Dustin Johnson claims one-shot lead at Tour Championship
Sunday 25 September 2016 22:17, UK
Dustin Johnson remained on course to end a memorable season as FedExCup champion as he claimed a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Tour Championship.
Trailing joint-overnight leader Kevin Chappell by one at the turn, Johnson suddenly found himself two clear at the top of the leaderboard when he birdied 10 and 11 before Chappell dropped his first, and only, shot of the day at the 11th.
Johnson did falter twice coming in, but a 67 was enough to give him the outright lead on seven under ahead of Chappell, while Rory McIlroy recovered from a poor front nine to salvage a 70 which left him five off the pace along with Paul Casey as only 10 players completed 36 holes under par.
But Jason Day was not among them after he was forced to withdraw while on the eighth hole due to a troublesome back problem, leaving Johnson, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott and Casey as the only players who can land the $10m FedExCup bonus on Sunday.
Johnson made a steady start before holing back-to-back six-foot putts for birdies at the fifth and sixth, and he converted two further chances from inside 10 feet immediately after the turn before blocking a routine wedge approach to the 12th into a bunker and failing to get up and down.
The US Open champion got the shot back with a 12-foot putt for his fifth birdie of the round at the 16th, although a poor drive led to another bogey at the next before he found rough again from the tee at the long final hole and had to settle for a closing par-five.
Chappell, an outside contender to earn Davis Love's final captain's pick for next week's Ryder Cup, reeled off three consecutive birdies from the sixth to hit the front on seven under, but he missed the green at the short 11th and ran up a four.
He parred the final seven holes to stay one behind Johnson and three ahead of Kevin Kisner (70) and Hideki Matsuyama (71), with McIlroy, Casey and Ryan Moore one further adrift.
McIlroy admitted he struggled with his swing from the start as he bogeyed the first two holes and erred again at the fifth before he halted the slide with a confident seven-foot putt for birdie at the next.
But he missed another fairway at the eighth and pulled his second into the water, although he did well to limit the damage to a bogey before staging a spirited comeback on the inward half.
The Deutsche Bank Championship winner holed from 12 feet at the 10th and set up another birdie with a delightful 100-yard pitch to two feet at the 12th, and he atoned for a poor approach to the 17th with a morale-boosting 20-foot putt for a welcome three.
McIlroy mis-hit his second to the last after a monster 360-yard drive and walked off with a disappointing par, which could have been worse after he pitched to 15 feet and raced his birdie putt five feet beyond the target.
Casey struggled to make much happen as he offset two birdies with a pair of bogeys in a workmanlike 70 while Moore, another player on Love's radar for Hazeltine, birdied two of the last three holes to return a creditable 68.
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Russell Knox carded four birdies after the turn to cruise home in 31 and post an excellent 66, the low round of the day, while Justin Thomas needed two late birdies to get back under par after being penalised a shot on the 11th when his ball moved just as he attempted to tap in for bogey.
Thomas, believed to be one of the three front-runners for a Ryder Cup wildcard pick along with Bubba Watson and Daniel Berger, was deemed to have caused the ball to move a fraction on the green and was forced to sign for a double-bogey five.
Scott revived his FedExCup hopes with an excellent back-nine 32 after he capped an outward 39 with a double-bogey six at the ninth, and the Australian will head into the weekend seven behind the leader.
But Reed is 10 shots off the pace despite making four birdies after the turn, although that merely repaired the damage of an erratic front-nine after he took four shots to find the opening green and scrapped his way to a double-bogey six.
